Project 10073 Record Card: Sighting over Fresno to San Francisco, California, 7 May 1958

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and associated military communications regarding a sighting of three unidentified objects on May 7, 1958. The objects were observed by a pilot, 1/LT E.R. Fender, and other commercial airliners in the area, including TWA Flight 215, while traveling from Fresno to San Francisco, California. The witnesses described the objects as bluish-white, triangular in shape, and similar to stars. The objects appeared to remain stationary for approximately one hour and thirty minutes before fading from sight. The military report notes that the objects were observed in the vicinity of the stars Venus and Arcturus. Despite the initial report, the official conclusion reached by the Air Technical Intelligence Center was that the objects were indeed the stars Venus and Arcturus. The investigating officer included a comment acknowledging the difficulty in believing that professional pilots would mistake these celestial bodies for UFOs, yet noted that such illusory effects are known to occur during dawn or dusk observations.